Transformation
by Yumiko21
Summary: "Where... Where am I?" He feebly raised his head, only to rest it again as dizziness overcame him. COMPLETE
1. Prologue

By Ruth

'Blah blah' indicates thoughts

Prologue

Yugi ran as fast as he could, his tri-coloured hair spattered with rain as he tried to get away from the battle, away from the strange creatures trying to capture him, away from Yami who had saved him, giving him the task to find Ryou and Bakura.

Even now he still had one of them following him. It looked like a yellow mouse with a thunderbolt shaped tail, red cheeks and black tipped narrow triangle ears. The creature was currently shooting out electricity at him and he couldn't see where he was going.

"LOOK OUT" two voices shouted at he ran towards a multi-coloured sphere.

The cries were too late as the small tri-coloured hair boy ran straight through it.

"YUGI!" the voices cried again, but was too late as the strange creature followed him.

"What do we do now?" the smaller white hair asked as a taller version of him tried to think.

"RYOU, BAKURA RUN" someone screamed from behind them.

Turning, they saw Yami running towards them, being chased by other creatures. The first was a small, blue, dog-like Pokémon. Its legs and torso were coloured black. Its tail was blue and it had a yellow collar. There were rounded bumps on the backs of its forepaws. It also had a black "mask" and red eyes. It was also the only one running on two legs.

The second was a small mammalian creature with white fur, a bushy tail that had a cream-coloured tip, and a furry collar that is also cream-coloured. It had brown eyes, big ears, and pink paw pads. It also had circular pink paw pads on the undersides of its feet.

The last was a small, fox-like Pokémon that has a black pelt, brown, pupil-less eyes and three black tails. It also had what looks like black bangs across its forehead as well as locks. It had a cream underbelly, and black feet with dark-silver coloured paw pads.

"DON'T JUST STAND THERE, RUN!" Yami screamed at them as they began to run away from the weird creatures.

"WHAT'S GOING ON?" Bakura screamed as they didn't notice themselves running towards the multi-coloured lights that Yugi ran into moments before.

"I DON'T KNOW, BUT THE BLACK ONE BREATHES FIRE" Yami yelled, narrowly avoiding a flame being shot at him.

None of them noticed as they suddenly ran through the portal with the strange creatures still on their tails, they also didn't notice as they started to get shorter and grow fur of varying colours, or when the creatures disappeared.

FLASH! A Flash of lightning hit an unknown area. Young and Old alike creatures were running from the area. However a loud scream ripped through the forest as all the creatures tried to find a dry place to stay out of the storm.

None of the creatures noticed as a lightning strike hit the ground in front of an ageing tree or when in the light, three figures collapsed.

"...Urrgh..."

The sea was calm, the sun's light reflecting off its smooth surface. The storm ceased many days ago, but not before leaving someone stranded on a nearby beach.

"Where... Where am I?"

He feebly raised his head, only to rest it again as dizziness overcame him. All he could see was sand, rocks, and water.

"...I can't... Drifting off..."

He fainted once again. A crocodile-like creature raced in from the sea, laughing. Once it noticed the unconscious figure, it ran to his side. "Hey, are you okay?" it—no, he—asked. "Oh, snap! Ardor or Folium better get here and fast!"


	2. Chapter 1 Wake Up

Chapter 1

Wake Up

"…Wake up…"

"..Hey, wake up..."

...Where... am I...?

"What's this? Oh, he moved! His eyes are..."

... I'm going to need to try harder... at least find out where I am... Using all the energy he could gather, Yami opened his eyes a little. He could see a white blur and a green blur above him, but could make no sense of who, or even what, they were.

"WAKE UP!"

"…Huh...five more minutes Yugi?" he said, still dazed.

"Yami, if you don't wake up I will let Bakura torment you, and take away your deck." The voice said, sounding as if its owner was walking away.

With a start, Yami sat up from where he lay, his eyes open wide. He couldn't see anything but a blue light and his head hurt severely, but nothing that would prevent him from figuring out what had just happened to him.

He felt a hard dizzy spell and fell back over on the bed, but only a little too hard and completely rolled off the side, hitting his head on the wooden frame. After coping with every burning sensation in his body, he finally could hear something rouse from the corner. Yami crouched low and waited for whatever it was to reveal itself. Quite the day I'm having already... Now if only I could remember how I got into this mess in the first place...

"It's alright Yami. I am not going to hurt you. Just so you know, you might want to take it easy for a while... You've been out for nearly two weeks."

Yami regained his footing and stood up straight. He now recognised the voice as Ryou's, but he was in no shape to do anything right now... He felt like he just went to into the puzzle for another five thousand years, three times over. Wait... TWO WEEKS? He thought, his brain only now figuring out what was said.

Taking a step back, Yami began looking around, searching the room for Ryou's voice frantically. I can't remember... What happened to me...? How did I get here? Yami fell on his knees and wrapped his hands around his head as a blue flash hit his conscious again. The green blur moved away while the white blur moved closer.

He fell on his hands and knees and began panting heavily as the pain started to dissipate almost as suddenly as it had came. For some reason, the blue blur seemed to stay fresh in his mind, though weaker than what had just happened.

"...Are you okay Yami? Can you hear me?"

Looking up, Yami could see what looked to be a white Eevee, a creature he recognised from one of Yugi's games. ...Wait... did that Eevee... Just talk...?

"Yami...are you ok?" the Eevee asked, sounding exactly like Ryou.

"You sound like Ryou" Yami said, still dazed.

"Yami... I AM Ryou" the Eevee said.

"But Ryou is human?" Yami asked, still confused.

"Yes Yami, I am a human but somehow I got turned into an Eevee" Ryou said, backing up a bit and allowing me a good view of him.

He had transformed into the small mammalian white creature that had been chasing him. He had a bushy tail that had a cream-coloured tip, and a furry collar that was also cream-coloured. He still had brown eyes, but now he had big ears, and pink paw pads. Lifting up his foot, I saw that he now also had circular pink paw pads on the undersides of his feet.

"What happened?" I asked, still a little dizzy.

"I don't know but you and Yugi were being chased by some Pokémon, and then you, me, and Bakura ran through a portal and then poof, we end up here" Ryou explained, as Yami's dizziness slowly went away.

"Portal?" Yami asked.

"Yes, a portal" Ryou said, bringing him bowl of water.

Yami looked into the bowl, intending to have a drink, but his reflection shocked him. Instead of his usual tri-coloured hair, there was now blue fur. Instead of his hands, there were now blue paws and instead of his human face, he now had a blue dog-like face with a black nose and two long black droopy ears beside him.

So he did the only natural thing, and fainted.

"He's out again?"

Turning, Ryou saw a Pokémon that resembled a reptilian dinosaur with a spotted blue-green hide. Its eyes were a bright red, but the most notable feature was the onion-like bulb on his back. The bulb looked very heavy, and was the reason for him sitting instead of standing. He also had a red scarf with a yellow star on it covering his right eye.

"I'm afraid so" Ryou answered.

"Pity, I'd like to know what happened to him."

"I know, but until he wakes up, we can't do much" Ryou said.

"How long till he wakes up again, do you think?"

A soft moan distracted them.

"Not long at all I think," Ryou said as Yami opened his eyes again.


	3. Chapter 2 The Black Bandit

Chapter 2

The Black Bandit

It had been about a month since that day, and over time Yami and Ryou learned the ropes around the guild they had been brought to.

The guild master, a Roserade, had 'hair' made of white rose petals and a leafy, green cape with a yellow, collar-like bangle on its neck. The 'cape' pattern reached toward the back of Roserade's head, in spiky, sepal-like extensions on the 'hair'. She also had a dark-green 'mask' pattern over her eyes, which possessed red irises and had yellow eyelids. The lower portion of its face is light green, and she always had in her hand, bouquets of roses; red for her right hand and blue for her left. Her limbs were light green, and her upper chest, chin, and the upper portion of her face were dark green in colouration and her feet had yellow tips.

Yami and Ryou quickly learned that she loved to prank others, and to be careful around her. Her assistant was a different story.

Her assistant was a cranky pup. Yami and Ryou were introduced to him the day after they asked to be apprentices to the guild.

He had bright orange fur with black stripes. His belly, tail, and fluff on top of its head were a cream colour and he had two claws on his forefeet.

He was the official guard dog, and second in command to the guild master.

"So you two want to join?" he asked when they applied.

"Yes please" they answered, feeling that it was the least they could do, since the guild had helped them, it only felt right.

Growlithe was the head of intelligence for the guild, and Roserades's second-in-command, as well as his best friend. Growlithe assigned the exploration missions to the newer guild members, and was in charge when Roserade falls asleep. He was very old friends with Roserade and was the second most powerful member of the guild. Although he means well, they were told, he can be somewhat hotheaded. His personality was also somewhat erratic, but to a lesser extent than Roserade. Though he always has the Guild's best intentions at heart, he's known to be rather harsh, such as (as they were told) sending the guild members to bed without taking supper for failing a mission. He is somewhat paranoid, mostly about Roserade's jokes, and sleeps at the front of the guild to ensure no one runs away.

"Well then, follow me" he said, leading them further into the guild and up to a wooden door.

"Guildmaster? It's Growlithe, I'm coming in" he said pushing open the door.

"Where are we?" Ryou asked, looking around at the spacious quarters.

The room was circular and covered in grass while various flowers were planted in no peculiar order. A Pokémon sat in the middle of the room, with various boxes and bags behind it.

"Yes Growlithe?" the figure asked.

"Guildmaster Roserade, these two would like to join the guild as apprentices for us helping them" Growlithe said, bowing.

"You know you don't need to bow Growlithe" the figure said, now turning towards Yami and Ryou. "Who are you?"

"I'm Ryou and this is Yami" Ryou said.

"I'm guildmaster Roserade," Roserade digging in one of the bags behind her. "So, what's your team name?"

"Um" come to think of it they hadn't thought of a team name but were saved by Roserade talking again.

"I know, team Icefire" she said, pushing a box over to them.

"Why that name?" Yami asked, pulling the box towards them.

"Don't question the guild master!" Growlithe hissed.

"Ok" Yami said opening the box.

"BOO!"

"AHHH!" Yami and Ryou both screamed as a jack-in-the-box popped out, startling them both.

"I got you, I got you" Roserade laughed, as she went for another box.

They cautiously opened this box, and after nothing jumped out at them, looked inside.

Inside the box was a badge with wings of some sort, three pieces of cloth, one green, one black and one blue, and a bag of some sort.

"What are these?" Yami asked, looking at the strange badge. It was in the shape of an oval and had little 'wings' coming out of either side of it.

"That is the Explorer badge" Roserade said, indicating the badge that Yami was holding.

"What are these?" Ryou asked, indicating the coloured cloth pieces.

"These are rescue scarfs" Roserade said, picking up the black one and proceeding to tie it around his neck.

"What are they for?" Yami asked as Roserade picked up the green one and tied it around his neck.

"These show that you are a rescue team" Roserade said, stuffing the blue one back into the bag.

"What's the bag for?" Yami asked, picking up said item and slinging it over his shoulder.

"That's for when you find items when you go out on missions" Roserade said.

"Missions?" Ryou asked, sounding a little hesitant.

"Don't worry, I'm sure that Leaf or someone else can teach you" Roserade said, dismissing them.

"So, what's our mission today?" Ryou asked, a year later as they prepared to head out.

"You want me to read it out again!" Yami exclaimed, taking the mission scroll out of the bag.

"Yes please."

"Fine" Yami sighed as he began to read it outloud.

_This Pokémon has made a career out of stealing_

_Help us apprehend this wrongdoer_

_Client: Officer Sizor_

_Objective: Arrest Vulpix_

_Description: Black, with a scar under its right eye. It is also a master thief, Goes by 'King of Thieves'. Only had three tails._

_Difficultly: 'D'_

_Reward: 1500 poké and?_

_Destination: Apple woods_

The 'king of thieves' part was what attracted their attention.

"You don't think that it could be Bakura?" Ryou asked for about the fifth time.

"I'm not sure, maybe, maybe not, we'll just have to wait and see" Yami said as they entered the dungeon.

* * *

**Apple Woods, First Floor**

The sunlight took on a green tint as it fell through the treetops of the Apple Woods, adding to the eerie scene of a forest in the very midst of decomposition. The air was thick and heavy with powerful smells.

The sound of chirping birds was scarce, but animalistic roars periodically sounded in the distance. They had entered the Mystery Dungeon now, and there was no going back.

Ryou did well to keep his wits about him as the venture began. With a friend, and a powerful warrior at the same time at his side, it was impossible to feel too scared.

Yami lead them forward, taking each step with care, and constantly analysing his perspective of the environment.

Ryou started to notice a lot of individual features of the forest that seemed unusual, almost alien to him. In places, colourless sticks covered in thorns shot up from the forest floor, and in others, grey rocks covered with rusty-red moss sat embedded in the ground, threatening to trip him up. Some trees were wrapped in soggy brown vines, sprouting bright green flowers which almost looked like eyes. Bright red apples hung from a lot of them.

"See those flowers?" Yami said, pointing to the green blossoms, "Poison. Stay away from them. Just one touch and you'll break out in enormous hives."

"I know Yami" Ryou said as they came across a Hoppip, a small pink Pokémon with two green leaves sticking out of its head.

Yami used quick attack and defeated it before it managed to get in another hit.

The second Pokémon they found was a Burmy, it looked like a small yellow cocoon.

Ryou defeated it with one tackle.

The next Pokémon they came across was an Oddish, a Pokémon with a blue plant bulb and round feet, beady red eyes, and five leaves sprouting from its head.

It was quickly defeated by Yami's Quick attack and they moved on.

They soon found a petcha berry and also a sleep seed before finding the stairs and moving on to the next floor.

**Apple Woods, 2nd Floor**

As soon as they got onto the floor they were ambushed by a Budew and it attacked them with it's absorb attack. The Budew had two "vines" that were on top of Budew's head as it opened up; a big spot could be seen on each vine, one blue and one red. The Budew also appeared to be wearing a green bib. The Budew also had a yellow face, with long, vertical streaks of eyes and triangular, stubby yellow feet.

It managed to dodge Yami's Quick attack, but was not as lucky as Ryou's tackle hit it straight in the stomach.

"You know, we're going to need a new member soon" Ryou said as another Budew fled from them.

"I know but I'm not sure if we're ready yet" Yami replied.

They moved on and they had found a special band and a Blast seed before they were confronted by a Caterpie. The Caterpie resembled a green caterpillar, with yellow ring-shaped markings down the sides of its body. Its most notable characteristic was the bright orange antennae on its head. It also had large eye-shaped markings.

It fired a gooey string-shot at Ryou, but was unable to take advantage of it as Yami knocked it out with a normal attack.

The Caterpie suddenly got to its feet again, but it didn't look angry.

"Hey! Wait! Come back!" it yelled as they started to walk away.

Yami knew the voice belonged to the Caterpie, but couldn't imagine what it wanted now. He turned around and saw it approaching fast, gasping for air as it caught up with them, as fast as its little legs could carry it.

"Are you okay? What's wrong?" Ryou asked.

"Listen, Riolu, Eevee… There really isn't anything for me here in this forest. Could I… come with you?"

Yami was absolutely floored. It wanted to… join them? He hadn't even said a few words to it, and now it was driven to change the direction of its life?

Incredulously, Yami glanced at Ryou. His face had lit up. He didn't even have to ask him; he knew that he approved of the idea.

But Yami had to think about it for a second. There were rules to the way recruitment worked in the Guild.

"I heard you talking earlier," the Caterpie admitted. "I thought I heard you said you needed to find a new member. Maybe… that could be me? Could I be part of your rescue team? I'll… I'll be a fast learner, I promise!"

Yami knew what he needed to do next: he needed to huddle with Ryou and discuss the matter. But, since he already knew precisely what his teammate would say, he figured he could skip that step this one time. Besides… he'd already made up his mind.

"No," Yami said simply. "Sorry, Caterpie, but I don't think it would be the right job for you. I don't want to get you into something you'd regret."

"Oh…" the Caterpie said, dashed."It's okay. I… understand."

Ryou was surprised at the suddenness and bluntness of Yami's response. The Caterpie cast longing glances at him, as if expecting him to respond.

"Don't look at me," Ryou told it. "He's the leader. He has the final say."

"Don't get me wrong, it's great that you're looking for something to do," Yami told it," But, our job is not the kind of job you can back out of once you commit. If you join us, you're stuck there for a very, very long time, and before you know it, you'll probably be yearning for your old boring life here in the forest."

Yami really couldn't tell if it was taking his suggestion to heart or just disregarding it, but it politely bowed to him one last time, said its final thanks and goodbyes, and scampered back off into the forest.

And then, just like any other wild Pokémon, it was gone, out of sight and mind.

* * *

A Paras suddenly jumped out at them a few minutes later. It was an orange insect with two mushrooms on its back. It leapt at Ryou but miss judged the distance and landed right in front of Ryou, who used a sand attack in its eyes. The Paras angrily attacked, but Ryou was quicker and managed to beat it with a strong tackle attack.

A few minutes later, a Hoppip that had been following him for some time suddenly attacked Ryou. Ryou, who was caught off-guard and knocked a few feet away before recovering and attacked the Hoppip with a tackle, which fainted the poor grass Pokémon.

"I thought the Pokémon here were stronger" Ryou said as another staircase came into view.

"It's still early in the morning, maybe they need a bit of time to get ready" Yami said as he picked up a Petrify orb.

**Apple Woods, 4th Floor**

"RYOU LOOK OUT" Yami yelled as a Butterfree sprayed poison powder all over Ryou, who accidentally breathed it in.

"Pet…cha…ber…ry" Ryou gasped as the flying bug Pokémon advanced on Yami.

The Butterfree resembled a butterfly with four legs, which were a pale blue colour. It had a nose-like structure which was a similar colour. The Butterfree's body coloration was a dark purple-blue. It had large veined wings which were white with black markings. It also had large compound eyes which were a reddish colour.

"Here Ryou" Yami said as he threw a Petcha berry into Ryou's mouth while launching a quick attack on the butterfly Pokémon, fainting it instantly.

Ryou relaxed as his body healed almost instantly. "I hope that doesn't happen again" he said as he got up and followed Yami towards the now exposed staircase, picking up a heal seed on the way.

6th Floor

"You hungry yet Ryou?" Yami asked as they searched for the staircase.

"A little, but let's find the staircase first" Ryou replied as an Exeggutor came up to them. It was a tall, brown Pokémon that resembled a coconut tree, with its lower body resembling a tree trunk. It had thick legs with two-toed feet. The Exeggutor had three to six round, light-yellow heads that resembled coconuts.

Before they could do anything, the Exeggutor had used Hypnosis on Yami and he was out like a light, leaving Ryou to deal with the Pokémon three times his size.

"Let's see now" Ryou muttered as the three headed Pokémon moved towards them. "It's too high for my tackle attack, at the most I'd just hurt myself, not very fast either...hmm... maybe, yeah that might work."

The Exeggutor was now towering above him and it looked a little surprised when the small Eevee didn't run away. Instead the Eevee started to run circles around him, making him quite dizzy as his three pairs of eyes tried to keep up with the white blur. Soon he fell over and then the Eevee jumped onto him and stuffed something into his mouth.

It didn't take long for him to figure out what it was, about five seconds later; he felt a fire burning in his mouth and realised that the thing that was stuffed in his mouth was a blast seed, a seed that was dangerous for him because of the flames that threatened to burn him. He lasted a few more seconds before finally subsiding to the horrible effects and fainted.

* * *

"…Wake up Yami…"

"..."

"..Hey, wake up..."

"Ok, you leave me with no choice" Ryou said, as he flung Yami into the air.

"I'm up, I'm up" Yami said as he landed painfully onto the ground.

"Good, come on, I found the stairs" Ryou said, stepping back so Yami could get up.

"What happened to the Exeggutor?" Yami asked as he followed Ryou.

"I beat it with the Blast seed" Ryou said as the stairs came into view.

"What happened to me?"

"The Exeggutor put you to sleep with its Hypnosis" Ryou said, ascending the stairs.

** Apple Woods, 8th Floor**

They ended up having to face another Butterfree and ended up using their heal seed as well.

They finally found an Apple, and were about to eat half each when a Combee suddenly attacked them.

The Combee was a small insect Pokémon that resembled three pieces of orange, hexagonal honeycomb stuck together. Each hexagon had a round yellow face. The top two hexagons had a single antenna and a wing connected to an orange-coloured joint.

It had managed to surprise them with a powerful gust attack which knocked Yami right into Ryou.

"Careful" Ryou said.

"Sorry" Yami said as he attacked the Combee with a powerful Reversal. The blue orbs spinning faster and faster against the honey Pokémon until it was knocked out.

The next Pokémon that came across them was a Gloom.

The Gloom had a flower on top of its head resembling a rainforest flower. The Gloom's eyes seemed perpetually closed in appearance, and its purple lips seemed to constantly drip drool. The Gloom also had a pair of arms, and legs that were a dark blue colour.

The Gloom managed to use an acid attack on them, covering them in purple goo, but that was all it could do to them as Yami and Ryou attacked it at the same times.

They managed to find the stair quickly and didn't have any more problems until the twelfth floor.

**Apple Woods, 12th Floor**

"I think the poster said that the outlaw was on this floor" Yami said as the searched for the black Pokémon.

"I hope you're right" Ryou said as they passed some foliage.

"I hope that it is Bakura that we find and not some other Pokémon" Yami said they found a huge tree, bigger than all the others surrounding it, in front of them.

"Wow" Ryou gasped, staring up at the big tree.

"Hey, who are you?" a voice asked.

Looking down, they saw a black Vulpix coming out from under the roots of the tree.

"Are you the 'King of Thieves?" Yami asked, taking a battle position.

"Yeah...what of it?" he asked, also taking a battle position.

"We're Team Icefire, and we've come to bring you to justice" Ryou yelled, as he also took a battle position.

Whose justice?" he asked.

"Just let us explain" Yami said.

"I'll listen if you can beat me" he said, pouncing on them.

"If it's a battle you want, then it's a battle you're going to get" Yami yelled, rushing at the fox with a quick attack.

"Yeah" Ryou yelled, tackling the fox.

"Hmpf, can't beat me" he said, doing a tail whip and then jumping into the tree.

"You're not escaping that easily" Yami yelled, following him.

Ryou lay down and decided to patiently wait for the Vulpix to fall back down. After all, Yami could unsettle almost any Pokémon when up in the trees.

* * *

"Ryou, heads up" Yami yelled, as a black blur fell from the tree.

Ryou leapt forward, and tackled him right into the tree behind them, fainting him at the same time.

"All right, I give, uncle, uncle" he yelled, as Yami dropped down beside him.

"Good, now can you tell us what your name is?" Yami asked.

"I'll tell you mine - if you tell me yours" he said.

Ryou and Yami looked at each other before replying.

"I'm Yami" Yami said.

"I'm Ryou" Ryou said, sitting down.

The Vulpix looked stunned before asking, "Two more questions, then I'll talk, did you ever know a place called 'Domino City'?"

"Yes" they answered at the same time.

"What is it?"

"It is a city in Japan, where we lived before we were transported here and turned into Pokémon" Yami said, as the Vulpix's face looked like it had won one million Poke.

"It IS you guy's" he said.

"Is it?" Yami asked, his eyes widening.

"Could it be?" Ryou asked, moving closer to the fox.

"Yep, it's me, Bakura" Bakura said, as Ryou rushed up and gave him the biggest hug possible.

* * *

A/N

1) The black Pokemon is a Vulpix, just a different colour for this story.

2) Sorry about the battles but I can't write battle scenes too well, so you'll just have to bear with me.

_Reviewers are welcome_


	4. Chapter 3 Lush Prairie

Chapter 3

Lush Prairie

A few days later, they were all summoned to the guild master's chambers.

"Guild master? The Team Icefire..." Roserade didn't turn around, "Guild master? Um, Guild master...?"

"HIYA!" The green Pokémon yelled in a happy-go-lucky tone, making everyone fall over from sheer shock.

"Guild master, I told you not to do that ever again!" Growlithe growled, clearly not amused.

Roserade turned and smiled at him, "Growlithe!"

"Y-yes, Guild master?" Growlithe said, moving back.

"Let's welcome Team Icefire's new recruit!" he said, turning to Yami and the others.

"You wanted to see us guild master?" Yami asked, carefully approaching the grass type.

"Yes, I did" Roserade said, giving him a box.

"Bakura, could you please open the box?" Yami asked, fearing what could be inside.

"Why can't you do it?" Bakura asked.

"Just open it" Growlithe barked, moving several more feet away.

"I don't see what all the fuss is about" Bakura said as he opened it.

"BOO!"

"AHHH!" Bakura screamed as a jack-in-the-box popped out, startling him.

"I got you, I got you" Roserade laughed, dancing around as the other three sighed.

"We knew that would happen" Yami said as Bakura recovered himself.

"How did you know that, and why didn't you warn me?" Bakura asked his voice dangerously low.

"-Because, he did the same thing to us and you opened it before we could" Ryou said as Roserade calmed down.

"Ha-ha, that was fun" he said, still giggling.

"Guild master, please get on with it" Ryou said.

"Ok-ok, first, do you two still have that blue clothe that I gave you?" he asked.

"Yeah" Yami said, bringing it out of the treasure bag slung over his shoulder.

"What is your name?" Roserade asked Bakura.

"Bakura" Bakura said as Roserade took the cloth from Yami and proceeded to tie it around his neck.

"There" he said a minute later, moving away so the others could see Bakura.

He looked the same except he now had a blue necktie around his neck.

"I feel weird" he complained.

"You'll get used to it" Yami said before Growlithe directed his attention back to Roserade.

"HIYA!" He twirled around once and then faced them, "You guys have been doing well! Transfer!"

"...What the guild master is saying is that we've got an invitation from Wigglytuff's guild asked for a couple of our apprentices to go and train with them for a while. Normally, we'd never even consider rookies like you for something like this, but you've impressed us, like with the capture of the outlaw and managing to reform him, err, no offence."

Bakura just growled to that.

"Really?" Ryou's eyes glowed with a renewed happiness, "We're going to Wigglytuff's guild?"

"Yes, you have one week to prepare, dismissed.

* * *

"Hey Bakura?" Yami asked that night.

"Yeah?"

"Why are you black? Because as far as I know, Vulpix are meant to be orange".

"I don't know but maybe it's because of the time abnormalities in this world that all the Pokémon are talking about."

"Yeah I guess that makes sense" Yami muttered as sleep claimed him

* * *

"Well? Are we ready?" Yami asked.

"I don't think it's possible to be any more ready if we tried. I know, because we did try." Ryou answered.

"Are you sure we didn't forget anything?" Yami asked.

"We went through the bag at least four times last night. We're fine!" Ryou said

"Plenty of food?"

"We got enough food to last us two days."

"I'm sorry. I know I shouldn't be worried… I'm just a bit nervous…"

"You'll be fine" the leader of team Green, a Treecko said. She was a small, green, bipedal reptilian Pokémon. Her hands and feet each had three digits and she also had two large dark-green tails. Her stomach and throat were red, while her eyes were yellow with long, skinny pupils. Finally, she had a line across on its stomach resembling a small pouch.

Roserade had insisted that only he, Growlithe, Leaf and a few members of the guild would be there to send them off.

Not two minutes after the wake-up had been sounded, Yami and Ryou stood at the Guild doorway. (Bakura, not used to so many Pokémon, was going to join them about ten minutes after they left the guild).

The hall was dead silent save for only a couple other early-bird teams who insisted on seizing the day the moment it became available. But, unlike Team Green or Team Poison, who were still blinking the flakes from their eyes and trying to walk straight, Team Icefire was as alert and energized as if they'd already been awake for two hours prior. Actually, they had; it was a bit difficult for any of them to get a good night's sleep with nervous anticipation tugging at their minds…

"Take care" Leaf said, stepping back into the small line of Pokémon.

"Come back safe" Treecko said as her partner, a Turtwig bowed her head. The Turtwig's appearance looked like a turtle or tortoise, and it was primarily light green in coloration. He had a prominent, yellow-colored jawbone and his green and yellow body was covered by a shell. A small seedling was growing on a brown-colored patch on his head.

The brown shell on his back had a thick black stripe and rim. Turtwig's eyes were, like his partners, a yellow colour as were his feet; and finally, he had a small tail behind him.

"Here you go" Roserade said, giving them several apples.

"We already have apples" Ryou said.

"These are Perfect apples and are Wigglytuff's favourite food" Roserade said.

"You're not pulling our leg AGAIN are you?" Yami asked as he stuffed the apples into the bag.

"No, I only do that sometimes" Roserade said.

"Time to go" Ryou reminded him.

"Ok" Yami said, as they walked away from the guild.

* * *

They were joined by Bakura just as they were leaving the forest edge.

"We're making good time" Yami said, as they jumped from tree to tree.

"So where's our first point to stop at?" Bakura asked. (He hadn't been participating as he had better things to be doing).

"We plan to be at the Lush Prairie dungeon by nightfall" Ryou said as they jumped out of the tree and started their journey across the plains.

The journey to the dungeon was uneventful and nightfall quickly came as they found the entrance to the dungeon.

* * *

The next morning...

**Lush Prairie, Floor 1**

The air was thick and heavy with powerful smells. The sound of chirping birds was scarce, but animalistic roars periodically sounded in the distance. They had entered the Mystery Dungeon now, and there was no going back.

Ryou did well to keep his wits about him as the venture began. No matter how many times he did this, it was still nerve racking; but with a friend on one side, and a powerful warrior on his other, it was impossible to feel too scared.

Yami lead them forward, taking each step with care, and constantly analysing his perspective of the environment.

Ryou started to notice a lot of individual features of the land that seemed unusual, almost alien to him. In places, colourless sticks covered in thorns shot up from the ground, and in others, grey rocks covered with rusty-red moss sat embedded in the ground, threatening to trip him up. The few trees that he could see were wrapped in soggy brown vines, sprouting bright green flowers which almost looked like eyes. Bright red apples hung from a lot of them.

"See those flowers?" Yami said, pointing to the green blossoms, "Poison. Stay away from them. Just one touch and you'll break out in enormous hives."

"I know that" Bakura said, "I was poisoned for only a few hours but it hurt" he said as an Exeggcute crossed their path.

The Exeggcute resembled light pink eggs and its shells had some cracks on them and one was cracked and showing some yellow substance.

Bakura shot one ember in front of it and it fled.

**Lush Prairie, Floor 3**

"Look, a Burmy" Yami said, as the grass Pokémon growled at them.

The Burmy's body was covered by a coat of leaves and it had yellow eyes.

"I'll get it" Yami said, rushing forward with a quick attack.

"Burmy" the Burmy said as a green shield surrounded the Pokémon.

"That's a protect move" Ryou said, as Yami picked himself up. "Don't bother" he added to Bakura, who was about to unleash a ember move, "nothing can get through that shield, but the Pokemon using it can't attack until it wears off, so let's get out of here" he said, moving around the stationary Pokémon and heading to the steps.

**Lush Prairie, Floor 6**

"This is the end of the dungeon" Yami said as they exited the canyon and laid down for a rest.

"Thank you for stating the obvious," Bakura sneered as he munched into an apple.

"We were in there longer than we thought" Ryou said, staring up at the stars blinking back at him.

"Let's rest here for the night" Yami said, "It'll still take us at least half of tomorrow to get there.


	5. Chapter 4 Evolution and the Guild

Chapter 4

Evolution and the Guild

That night…

"Why do you think we were turned into Pokémon?" Ryou asked, staring into the fire.

"I don't know" Bakura said, as Yami concentrated.

"What's Yami doing?" Bakura asked, suddenly intrigued.

"Yami's species is called 'Riolu' and they have to power to sense other's aura" Ryou explained, almost asleep. "Yami did this the first night we were in unfamiliar territory, he uses it to keep watch for any other Pokémon coming our way" he yawned, falling asleep beside Bakura.

"Aura, huh? I wonder what my aura looks like" he asked, not expecting a reply.

"Black"

"Huh?"

"Your aura is black" Yami said, his ears suddenly dropping down beside him.

"What does black aura mean?" Bakura asked.

"I don't know" Yami said.

"What do you mean? You don't know?"

"Well, I'm still learning things about my species and unfortunately, there wasn't a Riolu or Lucario at the base so I don't really know much" Yami said. "Mabye it's because you're a yami though."

"What's a Lucario?" Bakura asked.

"Do you know about 'evolution'? Yami asked, looking a little surprised.

"No."

"Evolution is a sudden change in form of a Pokémon."

"You mean Pokémon can change forms?" Bakura asked.

"Yes" Yami said, continuing, "Evolution can occur in Pokémon for several different reasons, the most common of which is gaining enough battle experience."

"You mean that I might be able to evolve?" Bakura asked.

"Yes," Yami said, growing annoyed. "There are many other factors that can determine if, when, and into what, different Pokémon will evolve. For example, some evolutions will only occur if the Pokémon has a certain item; at a certain time of day;or if the Pokémon is a certain gender."

"Do I need an item?" Bakura asked.

"Yes, you will need a fire stone to evolve" Yami said.

"What does a Fire stone look like?" Bakura asked, a smirk beginning to show on his face.

"I don't know, they didn't have a book on evolution at the base, I only found out when someone in the base came back from a mission, saying that they couldn't evolve" Yami snapped.

"Sorry" Bakura said, feeling sleepy now, I got one more question.

"What is it?" Yami asked.

"What is Ryou's aura?"

Yami blinked before replying, "White, like new fallen snow."

* * *

"Well we're here, so where's the guild?" Bakura asked as they sat around a basin full of water the next day.

"Roserade said that the guild was near Treasure Town" Yami muttered, trying to use his aura but something kept blocking it.

"Hey, there's someone, maybe they know" Ryou said, getting up.

"It's better than nothing" Bakura said as he and Yami followed behind.

The Pokémon that Ryou had seen was a yellow mouse with a thunderbolt shaped tail, red cheeks and black tipped narrow triangle ears.

After explained who they were, the Pokemon guided them up some steps and they were currently facing a building shaped like a Wigglytuff.

"This is the Wigglytuff Guild," he spoke in almost a monotone.

Yami whispered to Ryou, "Doesn't this place seem just a bit odd...?"

The Pikachu picked up his feet and headed towards the grate. Breathing deeply, he stood perfectly still, almost to the point of turning himself into a perfect statue impersonation.

"Pokémon Detected! Pokémon Detected!"

Forget about what I said earlier, I became startled. Instead of struggling around like last time, I forced my feet to hold onto the wooden grate. There was nothing that would make me fall this time.

"Whose footprint? Whose footprint?"

"The footprint is Yugi's! The footprint is Yugi's!"

Yami's breath caught in this throat, 'Yugi?'

* * *

The screechy voice died down and Yugi pulled his feet from the grate and breathed calmly.

"HEY WHAT GIVES?" he yelled down the hole as the gate didn't open.

"You may ENTER!" Ryou flew up about three inches into the air, "Someone's with YOU! Get that stranger up HERE!"

Ryou recovered from shock and Yami on to the grate.

"Pokémon detected! Pokémon detected!" The voice called up to us.

"Whose footprint? Whose footprint?"

"The footprint is...the f-footprint is...uh.."

"Diglett?" I heard the loud voice ask the scratchy one, "Sentry? SENTRY?"

"Uh...um..." The other voice got quiet, "Maybe Riolu's! Maybe Riolu's!"

I heard someone yell out in rage. I presumed it was the other voice, "WHAT? Maybe? Identifying footprints, it's your job, right Diglett?"

"That's alright, they are probably the members from Roserade's guild" a third voice said, "Let them in."

"Fine." The second voice groaned angrily.

"Very trusting, aren't they?" Bakura whispered.

They heard a cranking noise, and then felt the ground shake. The large steel door was slowly cranking its way open. Yami, Ryou and Bakura stood there in shock. There was no way for a robber or anyone to get through that huge steel door without permission first. As it cranked up fully, without looking at them, Yugi stepped inside. In the tiny tent, there were wooden ladders that lead into the ground.

I walked over to it and I carefully climbed down it, Yugi, was already on the next floor down.

As we climbed into the room, a distinct lighting system made the room bright. Many different Pokémon flooded the room, astonishing me. I felt my jaw drop in an awestruck smile. So this was the guild. Now the final step was to meet Wigglytuff and the rest of the guild.

"Welcome" a brightly coloured bird that had a head similar to a music note as well as a tail like a metronome. It had brightly coloured blue wings, a yellow 'bib' and a green stomach. It also had a white collar. It greeted them as they reached the lowest floor.

"Hi Chatot" Yugi muttered, slinking away.

Chatot acted as if he hadn't heard him and asked, "Are you the team that Roserade sent?"

"Yes" Yami answered, watching Yugi slink away, frowning.

"Well then! Follow me!" Chatot hopping over to a door and said, "Guild master! It's Chatot! I'm coming in!"

* * *

Pulling the doors open, Chatot walked us inside and sat up on a perch nearby a pink figure with long ears. Sven and I shuffled into the room and onto the rug before both of them. Chatot looked from us to the Guild master.

"Guild master? The team from Roserade..." Wigglytuff didn't turn around, "Guild master? Um, Guild master...?"

"HIYA!" The pink blob yelled in a happy-go-lucky tone, making everyone fall over from sheer shock.

Chatot was off of the bird perch and on the ground, "Guild master, I told you not to do that ever again!"

The Wigglytuff turned and smiled at him, "Chatot!"

"Y-yes, Guild master?" Chatot hobbled onto the post.

"Let's welcome the new team!"

Yami wanted to groan in frustration. Wigglytuff retrieved a box from the back of the room and placed it in front of us.

"There you go!" He merrily danced, "All you need to be temporarily part of this guild!"

Yami opened the box and pulled out a few items: A larger version bag that hung around his body and three rescue badges. Yami looked up from the box and at Wigglytuff.

"Now, do you know how long you will be with us?" Wigglytuff asked us with a smile.

"Um...no?" Ryou answered back, as Bakura examined the badges.

"That's ok, Team name?" Wigglytuff asked us with a smile.

"We're Team Icefire" Yami answered proudly

The Guild master saluted us, "All right!" He smiled cheerily, "Registering! ~"

Suddenly, he drew in a huge breath. Oh no, Yami didn't like the sound of this and quickly covered his ears... He released a screaming voice that shook the entire building at its foundations. Ryou felt himself shaking as he struggled to block out the noise from his over-sensitive Eevee ears. It felt horrible. And then it suddenly stopped.

"All registered! ~" Wigglytuff danced around in a circle, balancing a large apple on his head.

Chatot got up from his dazed position on the post and shakily trudged over to us, "Alright, I'll take you to your room."

"Oh, we almost forgot" Yami said, pulling out the apples that Roserade had given to him. "From Roserade" he said, giving them to Wigglytuff.

"Yay, Perfect apples" he cheered, and began to dance even faster.

* * *

They followed Chatot out the door and began to walk down another corridor and to a small but cozy room. There were six simply made beds in the centre, but that was about it. Bakura crawled on top of one and collapsed. I heard Ryou follow his lead.

"You will be sharing this room with one of our other teams, but they are out on a mission at the moment, so I will introduce you tomorrow" he said, hoping out of the room.

"Alright, tomorrow you guys start, so be ready!" Yami said, falling asleep on another one of the beds.

Yami felt his body get heavy as I closed my eyes. Finally, he could get some sleep after this hectic day. He heard Bakura grumble something and he lifted an ear in response. "Let's do well tomorrow.


End file.
